Improvement in cotton-presses



llamen @rares Patent @tirreno WILLIAM BULLOCK, OF JERSEY CITY, NEVJERSEY.

lVlPRl/EMENT IN COTTON-PRESSES.

Specilicatiou forming part of Letters Patent No. 3.73. dated January 4,i845.

. bination with au arrangement.which is so contrived as to release thepressure after it has arrived at a certain limit, so as to have auniformity in all the bales to be pressed.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, Iwillproceed to describe its construction and operation.

I construct my press as per drawings,'l`ig ures l and 2, Fig. l being aside elevation, and Fig. 2 an end elevation, of the press.

A A is the bottom of the press, into which are mortised four mainstandards or post-s, two only of which, B B, are shown in the drawings.

C C are the crossrails supporting a stationary platen.

D D are the top cross-rails; EE, themoving platen.

The power ofthe press arises from the following combination: E is acommon windlass, which is operated on by a crank handle marked G, whichhas a rope, H II H, passing around it, and thence over and around twopairs of sheave-bloeks, I I aud J J. `Those marked I I are fastened ontothe head of the press, and the corresponding pair (marked J J isfastened on the upper end of the lever KK, which has the form of ascalenetriangle. The other end ofthe rope .H H is fastened to the end ofa small lever, L, hereinafter mentioned. The main lever K has a fulcrumor center marked M, which has a bearing or hole in a vertical postmarked N, which post is mortised into thecrossrail and stationary platenmarked C-. Attached to the extremity of the short side of thescalene'triangular lever K are two journals or pivots marked O 0,onwhich are suspended or worked at one end straps or links P P, playingeach side of the lever. Attached to the reverse end, which I mark Q Q,are chains passing over rollers marked It R, which chains pass down andare fastened to iron straps S S S S. These iron straps support themovable platen marked E E. The ends of the straps work into two bars orbolts marked T T, passed through the movable platen for that purpose.

By the above arrangement the pressure for the bale is obtained. It nowremains for me to describe my contrivance for limiting the amount ofpressure to be applied to the bale or bales. Sliding on the top of therails forming the 'stationary platen marked C C, I have four pieces ofwood, two of which are shown in Fig. l and marked a c a a. The journalsof the rollers marked R R are working into them near the outside endsboth right and left, while theinside ends, near the vertical standardsmarked N, are beveled, forming inclined planes of an angle ot'aboutforty-two degrees from a vertical line, into which is pressedawedgevpiece with corresponding planes, as marked b b b, which works upand down and is guided bythe vertical standard N. The top of thiswedgepiece is cnrved,and has pressing onit a curved cam-piece, c c,whichis part of the segment of the wheel d d d, which radiates from thecenter pin, d, the spur-teeth of which work into two pinions, c c, c c.across the machine to work the corresponding pinion and segment whichare marked in Fig. 2. Attached to this pinion-shaft is a `frictieirwheelmarked f f, which has a friction -band passing around and impinging upononehalf of its surface, (marked g g,) which i1npingement is maintainedby means of a spiral spring marked 7L 7L, the spiral springI and bandbeing connected by means of the rod or bar it' at the joint j. Attachedto the same joint is another rod or rope which is connected to the leverL. This lever is of wood, works on a fulcrum-pin, Z, and has on itsother end the reverse end of the windlass-cord--that is to say, the cordpassing from the windlass around the two pair ofsheaves and fastened tothe end of the wooden lever 7c at the point marked m, so that a directconnection is made between the windlass and the band on thefriction-wheelj`f Under the Wooden lever 7c is an elliptic spring ofsteel, (marked a 01,) which has a tension equal to the power required onthe upper end of the lever fora givenpressure on the bale, and when thatpower is exceeded the spring n n gives way and relaxes the frictioirbandg g This pinion-shaft passes' v o b b, which is all the while pressingagainst the cam-piece c c, which forces up the segment- Wheel d d, &c.This, it will readily be seen, allows the two slide-piecesa a a a, whichsupport the journals ot' the rollers marked R R, to come toward thecenter, lengthcns the vertical portion of the chains, and slackens thepressure on the bale, thus giving the different bales equal size forequal weight.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

l. The combination of levers K K with the Side links, PP, with chains QQ passing ovel1 rollers R R, having vertical links to support themovable platen E E.-

2. The invention of the arrangement for connecting1 the self-adjustingplaten to the machinery by which the power is applied to the press, sothat whenever it takes beyond a limited amount of power to propel thepress the simple action of the power in propelling the press willrelease the bale until only the given amount of power is required.

y 3. The invention of the arrangement for connecting the abovearrangement for adjust` ing the power npon the bale to the movableplaten of the press, substantially in the manner and for the purposesset forth.

WM. BULLOCK.

